You Could Be Me
by A-Giant-Fan
Summary: How dangerous could listening to a talking tree that can read his mind be? Especially when they're so similar to Kurapika that he feels like he's listening to himself. He should be searching for Neon...but if he could just figure out who the tree really is...better than it sounds, R&R!


"This forest is so large," he murmured, "to think that Neon would wander off without any guards in a place like this - there isn't a shop for miles."

Kurapika paced past the multiple trees and alongside the thin, rippling brook of clear water that ran through the forest. He and the others had been taking Neon Nostrade to Barren City when she walked off in a huff over not being able to call up her father.

"Didn't she understand that he couldn't be interrupted during his very important business meeting today?" Honestly, he wondered if it was all worth it, but then he remembered that he needed the job to keep a tab on the underground.

He strode under the dense leaves above him to find the brook curve in front of him, a tiny stone bridge his only way across. Sighing, he stepped onto it.

"_I wouldn't come any closer if I were you."_

He glanced up. "Who said that?"

"_I did, trespasser."_

He ran over the brook and onward towards a large oak tree. "…Don't tell me you were the one talking."

The oak was in the center of a ring of pebbles, and he saw that the brook surrounded it. It had to be the middle of the forest, a landmark of sorts. There was no one else around, though. "Where are you?"

"_I'm right in front of you."_

"…" The tree had spoken to him. The voice was being carried through the winds that blew through its leaves and branches. It brushed back his long bangs. "How can a tree be talking on its own?"

"_I wasn't always a tree. I was once just like you."_

"A human?"

"_A human living a revenge driven life."_

His eyes widened. "How did you know that? Who are you?"

The tree's branches swayed_. "I was once known as Mali, a young hunter who roamed the land as a Bounty Hunter. I caught all sorts of killers for a living to help my poor family back home."_

"That doesn't answer how you knew about me."

"_I can sense it in your aura. I still have my nen, can't you tell? Even as a tree I have a soul, because it was my nen that turned me into this."_

Kurapika was becoming very interested. "How? And why were you looking to avenge someone?"

"_You must sit. This is my life story, after all."_

Kurapika reluctantly obeyed. He should be looking for Neon, but it wasn't every day you came across a talking tree.

"_It began when I was a child. I had always wanted to travel around the world, but unfortunately my tribe wasn't allowed to let people leave until they could prove that they could hide our secret."_

"What secret?"

"_We had the most beautiful of treasure hidden in our land, and if anyone were to find out about it, we could be targeted – and killed for it. So I lived in that forest for years, until finally I decided to prove myself."_

"_It had worked – thanks to the help of my old friend, I was able to pass with flying colours, and the next day I left to travel and explore…however…"_

"What?"

"_It was a few weeks after I had left that it had happened. I had been staying in a larger city when the news spread across the globe."_

"…" Kurapika waited for the answer.

"…_All of my people had been massacred."_

Kurapika gasped. "Wait…what? You mean that your clan was massacred, too?"

"_Are you saying that your clan was massacred?"_

Oops. He had just revealed his identity like that to a tree! How could he have made such a mistake?! "…I've heard of other clans being killed," he ignored Mila's question, "which were you part of?"

"_Alas, my memory has faded over the years. I can no longer recall."_ The oak tree seemed to loom over the blonde. _"Do I dare continue?"_

"…Yes, please do."

"_Very well. Once I had returned to find my family and friends dead, I buried them alongside one another, and vowed to find a way to avenge their loss. I would take down whoever had killed them."_

"Did you ever figure out who had killed them?"

"_I had. It was a group of murdering thieves, known as the-"_

"Phantom Troupe, am I right?"

The tree froze, the wind gone. _"Yes. It was the Phantom Troupe of Meteor City. You've heard of them, then, I can presume?"_

Kurapika felt his fists clench and his eyes heat up. He knew that they were glowing scarlet, but he didn't care. "They were the ones who massacred the Kurta clan. For years I've hunted them down."

"_I see, then we are very similar. They killed my people and left me with one route in life – I had to take them down and avenge my people."_

Kurapika felt as if he was talking to himself! Mila had lived the life just like him, having no choice but to gain revenge on the killer of his people. "Your _nen_ ability…was it based upon nature?"

"_How observant of you, Kurapika. Yes, I used my power to ensnare my victims by creating a forest around me and defeat them through the poisonous plants and never-ending brooks until they found me here at the center and I showed them the wrong of their actions." _

"That's brilliant," Kurapika remarked, "you used your power to mess with them psychologically. Tell me, had you ever caught a Phantom Troupe member?"

"_No, I had not. Instead I caught hundreds of other criminals who only increased my power. However, the longer I sat here, the further my nen integrated into the nature around me, and soon I became a tree."_

"That doesn't make any sense."

"_Neither did the actions of the Phantom Troupe on my clan. I could not forgive them, yet I soon became isolated because of my strain to capture them. I lost myself."_

He could see what Mila was saying. "You're telling me that if I'm not careful, I'll lose myself to my revenge? I'll have to give up everyone I care for to achieve my goals?" He glanced at his hands.

"…Gon…Leorio…Killua…Melody…everyone I've met from my travels, my journey…I don't know how to thank them for what they've done for me. All they've done for me…no." He felt a deep determination. "I won't lose myself – for their sakes, I won't go too far."

"_How deep you speak, Kurapika. Too bad you've already gone too far."_

"Hm?" He didn't understand. "I haven't gone too far yet!"

"_Killing Uvogin? Causing the death of Pakunoda? Placing Chrollo in solitary confinement by his lonesome while his members wander about?"_

"How did you know all of that?!"

"_I am intertwined with many forests. I have heard them speak your name, the Phantom Troupe. You caused them so much pain…you are a criminal now."_

Kurapika tried to move, but he was still. "You – you're saying that you've trapped me?!"

"_Yes I have. You are too late to save yourself, and your friends have left, haven't they? You are what I was – a desperate fools who lost themselves to the dark side of nen, only now – I'll be the only one to survive."_

"No! I haven't lost any of my friends!"

_Don't lie to yourself. You are alone. You will die alone, all because you couldn't let go of the past."_

"…!"

"KURAPIKA!"

He felt something grab his arms and pull. A sudden sensation of trickling mud and grimy dirt soiled his face and neck, until he broke through a strange level of ground and breathed in clear air.

Coughing and gagging he looked around. He was still in front of the oak tree Mila, but behind him was Neon, her shoes gone, pink dress covered in mud and grass and her hair clumpy and messy. She was breathing heavily.

Kurapika sat up. He, too, was covered in mud, head to toe. Underneath him was soft, overturned ground. "…I was…I was underground?"

Neon glared at him with her piercing eyes. "Of course you were underground! I saw you sucked under, and I've been digging for the past half an hour! ...I broke three nails trying to find you."

He gawked at her. "…You actually did work? On your own accord?"

"Don't gawk at me like that! I'm not about to lose my best guard to a stupid Illusionary Oak!"

"Illusionary what?"

"You've never heard of them?" She pointed to Mila. "It's a tree that draws you in with hypnotic scents and a sweet voice, then drags you underground with its roots to digest you. They use your own thoughts and life against you to keep you from noticing that you're about to die."

He was in shock, half from fear and half from embarrassment. How had he never heard of such a tree? "…I suppose I should thank you, then."

Neon huffed. "You suppose? I wander off to get you to come after me and instead I have to save your butt from being eaten, and you "suppose" you should thank me?!" She crossed her arms. "Some nerve."

"…Why did you want me to follow you?"

"You weren't paying enough attention to me. You're always off in La-La land, thinking about your own things."

Kurapika blinked a few times. "…I really am, aren't I?"

"Duh!" She stood up and dusted the front of her dress. "Now let's go back – I need a new outfit, and quick!" She grabbed Kurapika's hand and dragged him behind her. "I think I'm in the mood for some purple!"

As they walked back, he took one last look at the Illusionary Tree.

"…" _Do I really think too much about them? Could I ever lose myself because of them?..._

He smirked.

_We'll just have to wait and see, won't we, Mila?_


End file.
